RADNOR -- it wasn’t a Big 5 classic, but no one at Temple is complaining this morning. The Owls accomplished something Wednesday night they haven’t been able to achieve in more than 20 years: Beat Villanova in back-to-back years.

Scootie Randall scored 21 points, Anthony Lee tied a career-high with 16 points and Khalif Wyatt added 13 as the Owls rallied from a four-point halftime deficit for a 76-61 victory over the Wildcats at the Pavilion.

It marked the first time the Owls (6-0 overall, 1-0 Big 5) beat Villanova in consecutive years since the 1987-88 and 1988-89 seasons. It’s also Temple’s first win at the Pavilion since a 70-57 triumph Nov. 29, 1990.

“It’s a big win for us,” said Lee, who had a T, a U and his numeral, 3, shaved into the left side of his head Tuesday night. “Coaches were telling us all week that we haven’t won here since 1990. We weren’t intimidated coming in here. We wanted to show everyone that we could win here.”

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Both teams were ranked the last time the Owls knocked off the Wildcats at the Ski Lodge. That’s far from the case this year. While Temple is off to its best start since 1987-88, when the Owls opened the season with 14 straight wins, Villanova has struggled.

The Wildcats (4-4, 0-2) are .500 after eight games for the first time since the 1997-98 season and winless after two games in the City Series for the first time since 2001-02, Jay Wright’s first season on the Main Line.

For 20 minutes, though, it looked like Villanova’s streak would continue. But then it all came together for the Owls and fell apart for the Wildcats in the first 10 minutes of the second half.

Temple held Villanova without a field goal 10 minutes, 19 seconds, and went on an 18-2 run to erase a 36-32 halftime deficit. Villanova contributed to its demise. Not only did the Wildcats miss their first nine shots from the field in the second half, they also turned the ball over three times in their first seven possessions and 11 times in the second half.

“Their team defense was outstanding,” Wright said of Temple.

Villanova finished with a season-high 20 turnovers and just seven field goals in the second half.

“Our turnovers led to points for them,” said swingman James Bell, who led Villanova with 15 points. “We have to do a better job of taking care of the ball.

Tony Chennault hit a 3-pointer to end Villanova’s field goal drought with 9:41 left in the first half. He had three of Villanova’s seven field goals in the second half and finished with 10 points, but by then the damage was done.

The way the first half went, though, no one would have predicted that it Villanova would have trouble scoring in the second half. After a see-saw first four minutes, in which the lead changed hands three times, the game quickly developed into a jump-shooting contest and that did not bode well for the Owls, even with Wyatt on the floor.

The senior guard sent stone cold after hitting his first shot. Wyatt missed his final eight attempts as the Wildcats took a 36-32 lead into the locker room at halftime.

Wyatt wasn’t the only Owl to struggle from the field. Temple was 11-for-34 overall (32.4 percent) and 5-for-17 from 3-point land (29.4). Randall and Lee kept Temple in it with 10 and six points, respectively.

Villanova’s lead would have been larger had the Wildcats taken better care of the basketball. That was Jay Wright’s biggest concern coming into the game. Villanova turned the ball over 17 times in last year’s 78-67 loss to the Owls at the Liacouras Center and continued that trend in the first 20 minutes.

The Wildcats turned the ball over nine times in the first half and Temple converted those mistakes into seven points. All that did, though, was keep Temple close. With Achraf Yacoubou scoring all five of his points and Bell netting four of his seven, the Wildcats scored 16 of the last 25 points to take that four-point lead into intermission.

Wyatt did not stay cold for long. He hit two straight including a 3-pointer after missing his first attempt in the second half to ignite a 7-0 run that gave the Owls a 41-36 lead. Villanova helped to fuel that outburst with four turnovers and three missed shots on its first seven possessions of the second half.

Hilliard made 2 of 3 from the line to get Villanova on the board, but that only stemmed the tide briefly. Temple ran off the next eight points and Temple had its second straight win over the Wildcats and remained undefeated going into Saturday’s showdown with second.-ranked Duke at the Izod Center

“I thought we did a great job defensive in the second half,” Temple coach Fran Dunphy said. “I hope this shows that we’re going to play better as we move along.”